Renee Goodwin, Staff Writer
The rise of the smart phone gave birth to the ever growing and evolving applications market. With the introduction of the App Store eight years ago, there has been a steady increase in the number apps available for download each year, reaching 1,000,000 applications as of October 2013 with 475,000 being unique to Apple.
According to a survey done by FreshTalkNetwork, apps will continue to grow in popularity due to three important factors; mobile apps make life easier, they are very affordable, and there will be more and more mobile apps.
The allure that smart phones have over the 21st century population worldwide is the result of one powerful thing, apps. They are all designed by developers to make people’s lives easier and more efficient, whether people are in a pinch and need to transfer money quickly between bank accounts with a mobile banking app, or they have dropped something in a dark movie theatre and need that flashlight app, people depend on these applications to aid them in their day to day activities.
Shawnee Arnett, Junior, said, “Apps are so popular among the public because they make life easier for us lazy people.”
Junior William Berry said, “You can do so much in such a short amount of time, it saves the consumer valuable time and money.”
The affordability of many of these apps is another prominent feature that has caused their skyrocket in popularity. In a world where free things come as a shock to consumers, the accessibility of these apps can cause many to go “app overboard.”
Junior Elizabeth Panek said, “There is a reason the most downloaded apps are the free ones, they take up very little data space and provide a service many of us would expect to pay for.”
Like most technology, apps will only improve over time because of the constant updates and newer versions, and consumers will only want more.
Freshman Bobbi Ausmus said, “The constant development and production of new apps adds to their popularity, people always want what’s brand new.”
With the increase in developers, sponsors and advertisement money, the production of free apps is only going to increase in the coming years.
